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Walking Wounded
|plot=Maniac scores guard duty on a crippled medical ship }} Walking Wounded is the 9nth episode of the Wing Commander Academy TV series. Plot Act 1 Gwen Bowman is in a simulator, flying through an asteroid field and attempting to gain a lock on an adversary. She launches a missile and manages a successful hit. Dr. Guthrig Andropolos and an Ensign observe her performance. After she exits the simulator pod, Andropolos notes that she hesitated for 2 seconds before firing, leaving ample time for a Kilrathi to hit her. Because of this, he finds her unsuitable for battle and grounds her until running more simulations. Archer is in her quarters looking at the medallion Blizzard gave to her before, and recounts the moment when she was ordered to kill him during his delusion, in order to save her companions. Maniac enters furious, he has seen the duty roster and inquires what is wrong and considers Andropolos crazy. He removes the medallion from Archer's hands and tells her to let go what happened to Blizzard. Archer asks him why he cares all of the sudden, when Geoffrey Tolwyn is heard, calling all pilots to the briefing room. Maverick, Maniac, Grunt and Hyena are briefed by Tolwyn. Hospital Ship Pleiku, was part of a convoy which was ambushed by a Kilrathi advance force at the edge of the sector, and sends a distress call. Blair will lead the sortie to lend support to the ship and escort it to the . Four Scimitars discover the Pleiku. It suffers from hull breach and has radiation leak. Her egines are destroyed and the main power systems are off-line. Maverick attempts to communicate, but they don't respond; the bridge has been totally destroyed. He picks a ship in his sensors. Maniac says that they can't leave the hospital unprotected, and Maverick orders him to stay behind, under complains that he will miss the action. In the captured Confederation ship, two Kilrathi officers observe that the Scimitars took the bait, and they will launch an assault once in range. The captain tells his officer to inform the Dironee to destroy the Hospital ship. The Scimitars approach the ship which they identify as the Confederation Fighter Transport and Maverick asks if they need assistance. The ship responds by launching 6 Sabres and 3 Broadswords; the mysterious "welcoming committee" silently pass by the Scimitars. Then 8 Dralthis show up. The pilots realise it's a trap and retreat under fire. Act 2 The pilots engage in dogfight. Grunt saves Maverick and Hyena by killing a pair of Dralthis but more are coming. Maniac guards the Hospital while listening to his colleagues' intercommunications and decides to disobey the orders and assist them. Suddenly a missile is launched by a stalking but he evades it. The captain scolds his officer for missing the target and losing the element of surprise and insists to pursue him, despite having only one more missile left to destroy the Hospital. Maniac gets behind the corvette and destroys its dorsal laser turret. The Kamekh fires its last missile and Maniac ejects. Meanwhile Grunt downs a Dralthi and Maverick finishes the Morgan by launching two missiles against its bridge. Then the 3 pilots pursue the fighters who left for the Claw. He docks his eject pod with the Hospital and boards it. He finds a corridor full of injured who beg him to take them back to the Confederation. He is greeted by Dr. Kyle (?) who tells him the Hospital is crowded and they lack antibiotics. He asks for his help, as he is already using crewmen with no medical expertise, and has him operate a manual lung pump. In the Claw, they detect the approaching ships, believing they are part of the force their pilots rescued. Tolwyn orders the officer to let them in, but there is no response. Meanwhile the Scimitars are en route to the Claw to warn them. The Claw detects a long distance missile lock and Tolwyn realises it's a trap and sounds an alarm. Archer is reading in her quarters but wears her uniform and runs to the hangar. Act 3 Maniac is tending a patient when he suffers from a shock. Frustrated, he shouts to the nurse, who reassures Maniac that the patient just managed to breathe on his own, and removes the pump. Then they sense some trembling and a sound, and Maniac understands the Kilrathi used docking grapples to enter the Hospital. The Claw receives fire and shields fall to 40%. 6 Scimitars are launched but 2 are shot down at take-off. Tolwyn tells Nelson he has the conn and leaves for the hangar. Archer boards her Scimitar to Payback's surprise, who tells her to stay away from her. As they launch, Maverick and his wings are 90 seconds away from the battle, hoping the Claw will be in one piece by then. Maniac and the Doctor discuss how they can repel the Kilrathi. Doctor suggests to seal the medical bay from the main ship. Kilrathi in battle uniforms cut a bulkhead and enter the ship. The doctor and Maniac tie themselves with an airlock and Maniac operates a pod, which breaks the glass and hurls into space. The Kilrathi Captain, seeing it moving towards the Corvette, orders to fire the emergency thrusters, damaging the docking tube. The projectile hits them nonetheless and destroys the ship. The shockwave trembles the hospital and also breaks some windows, causing the Kilrathi force to be sucked out in space. Maniac and the doctor are holding by the rope and once the air is depleted, they are rescued by two nurses. Maniac humorously invites them to fly with him anytime. Maverick's Scimitars approach the battle and soon engage a Sabre. Grunt kills another one with a missile. They are joined by Payback. Meanwhile Archer realises that Tolwyn flies to her wing, and he tells her to lead. Archer has a Broadsword on her sights, when Payback gets in front of her and hits it, mocking Archer. Tolwyn requests for assistance, and Archer goes to his wing, followed by Payback. The two women argue a bit as Payback mentions that Archer is too slow, and hits the Broadsword pursuing Tolwyn. Then Archer sees a Broadsword in attack run against the Claw, and without hesitation, she fires. Archer is outside Tolwyn's office and is joined by Maniac. He returns Blizzard's medallion to her, and she decides to send it to his family. Tolwyn tells them to enter, and he says that he will recommend them the Flying Cross for their actions saving a ship. Maniac however recommends it to the doctor and the nurses of the hospital ship, being the real heroes. Outside, Maniac feels embarassed for his noble action, and invites Archer for a record ball (?) session. Trivia *This episode culminates the story arc about Archer's reservations to fight, and establishes that it originates for the episode The Most Delicate Instrument. *The Claw's XO Nelson's name is revealed in this episode. 09